Naperville Independent Film Festival facts for kids
The Naperville Independent Film Festival is a yearly event in Naperville, Illinois. It's a special film festival that shows movies made by independent filmmakers. These are people who create films outside of big Hollywood studios.
Famous actress Karen Black helped start the festival in 2008. In 2009, well-known film critic Roger Ebert gave an award. He honored Brooke Hanson for her student film called Borderless.
Starting the Film Festival
The Naperville Independent Film Festival was created by four people. They were Gary Pradel, Daniel Nigg, Edmond Coisson, and Glessna Coisson. Their main goal was to help filmmakers get better at making movies.
The festival has two groups of judges. One group decides who wins the awards. The other group watches the films carefully. They give helpful advice to the filmmakers. This advice covers things like lighting, writing the story, and directing the actors.
Gary Pradel, who leads the festival, explained their unique approach. He said that usually, filmmakers just find out if they won or lost. But at this festival, they get reasons why. Edmond Coisson added that their mission is for filmmakers to return. They want them to be even more successful next year.
Festival Highlights: 2008
The first Naperville Independent Film Festival took place from September 24 to 27, 2008. Actress Karen Black helped open this exciting event.
Twenty-five films were shown during the festival. These movies came from local and international filmmakers. Many talented people won awards that year. Hanieh Jodat won for Best Actress. Jon Bernthal received the award for Best Actor. Myles Price was honored as Best Director. Actor Gary Sinise also attended the festival. Besides showing films, the festival offered workshops. These workshops helped people learn about writing movie scripts.
Festival Highlights: 2009
The second Naperville Independent Film Festival happened from September 19 to 26, 2009. This year, the festival showed 80 movies. These films were chosen from about 130 submissions. Filmmakers from all over the world sent in their work.
Filmmakers competed for 10 different awards. These included awards for best feature film (a long movie) and short subject (a short movie). There were also awards for animation, foreign language films, and best screenplay (the movie script). A group of 12 judges, mostly local newspaper critics, made the decisions.
The festival started with a fun Ghostbusters Tribute Bash. This celebrated the movie's 25th anniversary. The event ended with a special Awards Gala. Actor Rodney Lee Conover led a discussion panel. Dan Decker taught a workshop on screenwriting. Musician Jim Peterik performed his hit songs. He is known for "Hold on Loosely" and "Eye of the Tiger". Actress Karen Allen from Raiders of the Lost Ark also made an appearance.
A special competition was held for children aged 13 and under. Naperville Mayor George Pradel gave awards to these young filmmakers. This happened on Family Day. Famous film critic Roger Ebert presented an award for best student film. He gave it to Brooke Hanson for her movie Borderless.
41°44′53″N 88°09′56″W / 41.74806°N 88.16556°W
